Telephone-signal



G. H.'BLISS. Telephone Signal. -No. ;241,59s. Patented May 17,1881.

lllllllllllllillll mew/Z7771 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

GEORGE H. BLISS,OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

TELEPHONE-=SQGNAL.

srncrrrcnrrolv forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,598 ,'dated Iday 17, 1881.

a lication filed March 18, 1881. (No modem My invention relates to an individual signal apparatus adapted for use ontelephone-cir- IO cuits, and is intended as an improvement on o the invention embodied in a fonzner applica tion for Letters Patent filed by the November 29, 1880, to which reference may be had. In

the said application a series of signal-controlling instruments were employed, each consist ing of a clock-work or other mechanical motor having a uniform rate of motion synchronous with the others of the series, each being adapted to bring its corresponding signal into perative condition during'a portion of its movevment, the times of such o'ieration being different at each instrument, and the said instruments being, provided with automatic stop mecl anism, by which they are all simultane- 5 tained its signal in operative condition for a certain period suificient for'the propersoundingof the said signal. By this arrangement on'lyone of the signals can be sounded at any one time, 1

time, can sound any desiredone of the signals without affecting the oth ers, A suificient time has to be allowed, however, -for the sounding of each one in turn, so that if the seventh or eighth one of the series were to be sounded the operators would have to start allthe con-trolling clock-works,'and then wait until suificient time had elapsed for calling all" the first stations before the time for calling the'desired station arrived. This makes the-operation of signaling somewhat slow, and, moreover, the time in which the signal at a'given station can be operated has to be made-as short as possi' ble, so that the aggregate time needed to give' all of the stations (each in turn) called should not be too great.

In the said apparatus separate elcctro-magnets are employed for starting the signal-eon- "."rolling mechanism and for-sending the signal when pezmitted by the said controlling mechanism, and suitable circuit-controllers are ema chance to be H. Buss, of.

{said form er application, started simultaneously by the starti ng-magnet,

magnet, which thus becomes a controlling-mag ously stopped after each, in turn, has main and the operator, by waiting until the proper 'mon starting-point, so that they will bestarted ployed to cause only one of the said magnets at each'instrument to be in circuit at a time, so that when the startingmagnets are in circuitthe signal-controlling magnets are shunted or cut out, and the reverse.

In my present invention l have so arranged the signal Q controlling mechanism, provided with a stop mechanism similar to that of my that they all maybe andin their subsequent movement will bring one after the other of their signal-magnets into operative condition in rapid sucecssion,,with

out, however, retaining them in such position long enough to be operated while the said controlling mechanisms are still running, and I have placed the stop mechanisms under the control of the operator through the said startingnet for the-clock-worlqso that the said clockworks can bestopped at any desired point at which any desired one of the signaling-instruments is in condition to be sounded. And [have so arranged the stop mechanism controlled by the starting electro-magnet that the signal thus placed in operative position can be sounded without ali'ectin g the starting-magnets to start the controlling devicesor clock-works. After the desired signal has been operated as long as necessary, the said controlling mechanism may be again started by the startingmagnets and allowed to run until they are allautomatically stopped (as in my former application) at a coms in unison when they are next to be operated. By this arrangement only sufficient time is required to bring each signal to its operative p0 sitiou, and then to operate the signal, insteac. of having, as in my former arrangement, to consume suflicient time to operate all of the signals. In this instance the starting or con- .trolling magnets require .a current of greater strength to operate them to start the clockworks than is required to operate the signal,

the latter being preferably operated by the short reversed currents produced by a magneto-electric generator, and the starting-magnets being operated by battery-currents Figure l is a front elevation of a sufii'cient portion of a signal apparatus to illustrate my present invention; Fig. 2, a face viewof the dial-plate and pointer thereof and Fig.3 a diatances fromthe springs 14, a strong current is gram illustrating the electric circuits.

The same notation is used as far as possible as in the former application referred to, to en able'thc two inventions to be more readily compared.

The main cam-shaft e is operated by a train of wheel-work terminating in a balance, 0, the same as in the former application, the said wheel-work being omitted in the drawings, as it forms no part of the present invention.

The stopping device g, pivoted at 3, and adapted to engage the stop-cam h (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1) on the shaft d of the balance c, is provided witha finger, 2, controlled by the controlling-disk f, as in my former application. The said stop-lever g is provided with an arm, is, adapted to be engaged by the linger j on the armature of the starting-magnet i, as in my former application but the said armature is so located relative to the poles of the magnet, and its retractin g-sprin g lis made of such strength, that the currents employed for operating the signal-magnets, one of which is indicated at 'r, Fig. 3, will not cause the tinger j to engage the arm 70 and raise the projection 2 of the stop-lever 9 out of the notches '4 of the controlling-disk f but a sufficientlystrong current will sowpetate the said armature and stop-lever g, and allow the clock-work to start, as in my former appli: ation.

In the present application the starti n g-magnet i remains continually in circuit, and its shunt and circuit-closer and operating-cam erable period, is

(shown in the former application) are omitted. The circuit-closer t a, controlling the shunt around the signal-operatin g magnetic, is operated by the cam e, which, instead of being constructed to hold the said circuit-closer open while the clock-work is running for a considso made as to open the said circuit-controller only for a moment, and as the shaft 6 continues to revolve to immediately close it. The said cams o in the difi'erent-instruments are so placed relative to the notch 4 in the controlling-disk f that as the controlling-disks and their shafts start simultaneously to rotate the said cams Q: will open the circuit-closers t u in turn, each one just after the previous one has been closed by the point of the cam 'v passing-beyond the spring portion a of the circuit-closer The controlling-disks f are provided with a series of stop-notches, 8, to receive the projection 2 of the stop-lever g and cause the said lever to engage the stop-cam h of the balance cjust when one of the cams v is holding one of the circuit-closers t a open, and the shaft 6 is provided with a pointer, w,-(sce Fig. 2,) that indicates, in connection with the dial a, the moment at which the difi'ercnt stop-notches 8 are in position to receive the projection 2 of the stop-lever. 1

In operation, the instruments all being stopped, as shown in Fig. 1, with their proiections 2 in the stop-notches 4 and the cams v of the difl'erent instruments at difi'erent dis thrown upon the main circuit, passing to the binding-screw 10 of the first instrument, and thence through the wires and 16 and the I coils of the starting-magnet 'i to the bindingpost 11,and thence to the binding-post 12, and by the shunt-wire 23, circuit-closer t wand shunt-wire 24, to the binding-screw 13, and thence to the binding-screw strument, and so on, the circuit closers t abeing all closed and the signal-magnets r (interposed in circuit between the binding-screws 1213) all shor't-circuited bythe said circuitclosers and wires 23 and 24. The current thus thrown on is of sufficient strength to cause the finger j to act on the arm k and disengage the stop-lever g from this stop-cam h, causing all the clock-works to start simultaneously. .It the circuit is immediately broken, the stop-arm 9 will no longer be held by the finger j, but the,

projection 2 will fall on thcinclined rear side of the tooth formed between the stop-notch t and the next stop-notch 8, and the clock-works will continue moving until the said stop-notch 8 arrives under, the projection 2, which will then fall therein and automatically stop the clock. In this movement the cam 'v of the first instrument of the series will have raised the springaa from contact with the spring t, and thus opened the shunt between the wires 12 and 13, so that the succeeding currents that pass over the circuit will be obliged to pass through the signal-magnet r at that station and cause it to operate its signal, while the cams o of all the other instruments have not yet reached the spring a, so that the corresponding signal-magnets still remain cut out. The pointers to will now all stand opposite the line marked 1 on the dial, thnsindicating that the si' n'al at station 1 and that alone can beo er- I ated.

works will again be started; or, if the current were maintained steadily through the .said magnets, they would continue moving, and im mediately after the pointers passed the first mark the spring u of the first instrument would drop, cutting the corresponding signal-magnet ontagain, and just as the pointer arrived at the second mark, and the projection above the second stop-notch the second station would raise the spring a and throw the second signal in circuit, and so on. The operator accordingly waits until the pointer has passed the line numbered one less than the number of the station he wishes to cal when he opens the circuit or demagnetizes the magnet 2 so that the projection 2 of the stoplevers y will fall in the next stop-notch 8, when the signalizing-magnet-o' will be in circuit at the station desired to-be signaled.

The stop-cam h on the shaft ance c is provided with a series of stop-shoulders forming a series of ratchet-like teeth, so

new, another current is thrown upon 'the'line and through the magnets t, the clock- 2 was 8, the cam 'v ata of the oaloperated there.

said cam when the balance 0 is nearly at the end of. its oscillation. the stop-notches 4 8 in the controlling-disk'f beingsp located that the projection 2 falls thereimw-hile the balance 0 is moving in the direction of the arrow Fig. 1. The amplitude of movement of the ba ance c varies with the decreasing strength of the inainspring as it runs down in the well-known manner, so that the stop-lever y will engage different teeth of the stop-cam h at different times; but the balance will always start ofi whenreleased by the said stop-lever with an amplitude of vibration nearly the same as that which it had when it stopped.

Ihave found, in practice, that a movement oe'cupyingtwo seconds of time is required to open and close the circuit-controllers t 'u, so that if there be ten stations only twenty seconds will have 'to elapse before the last of these stations is brought into condition .to be sig-i -naled, while with the former plan five or six.

seconds have to be allowed for signaling each station, so that nearly a minute will have to elapse after the starting of the clock-works before the tenth station could be signaled, and then its signal-bell could only be sounded for three or four sec0nds,-and it it failed to' call attention the clocks would have to be started again and another minute wasted, while with my presentinvention, when the station is once brought into condition to be'signaled,i t is retained so as long as desired, so that itssignalbell may be continually operated, if need be, until the return-signal is given.

In Fig. 3 the stop-levers are shown as havi'ngtheir projections 2 engaged in the third stop-notch 8 from the 'one, 4, in which they rested when the clocks were at their common starting-point and the circuit-closer t a at the third station is open, so that the signal can be After a station has been signaled the strong currentis thrown on, and the stop-levers 9 thus remain disengaged from, the controlling-disk f untilall the stop-notches 8 have passed beyond the projection 2, the .pointers '20 then havingpass'ed beyond the numbered marks-on the, dials a:, when the magnets are demagnetized,and the lovers 9 allowed toreinain with'theirprojections 2 resting on the' blank surface of the controlling-disk f until the first or main stop-notch 4 receives the said projection and, causes the clocks to stop, as iii-my former application. i

If desired, there may be two'or more campoints '0 and two or more correspondin'gmarked and numbered portions of the dial; but it is I desirable to ha've a blank space on the surface of'the controlling-di'skf, between its different notched portions, so that if the shafts e do not run in exact unison the stop-levers 9 may be kept disengaged from the controllingdisk f long enough to insure that the notched portion of the slowest of the said disks shall have certainly passed beyond theprojection 2, and

then,when the stop-lever is dropped, it will stop the clock when the notch 4 of each arrives under the projection 2, be it sooner or later, and the. clocks will all be ready to start again simultaneousl y. Y

Currents of difi'erent' polarity may be employed to operate thefcontrolling and signals in gmagnets independently; or any other characteristic difi'erence maybe madeuse of;

The signal-magnet may be placed in a local circuit controlled by-a circuit-closer or otherwise.

I claiin I 1. In an individual signal apparatus, a series of controlliuginstruments, each consisting of a mechanical motor or clock-work adapted to run synchronously with the others of the series and to control the operation of the corresponding signal, and stop mechanism for the said motor having a series of definite stoppoints, as described, corresponding to the operative positions for the signals at thedifiermagnet for the said stop mechanism, whereby an operator is enabled to start" the said controlling-motors simultaneously, and then stop them at any desired p'oint at which a signal is in condition to be operated only at the station desired, substantially as described;

2. The balance 'of a mechanical motor and the stop lever; therefor, combined with the stop-cam It, provided with a series of teeth or stop-shoulders, substantially as and for the purpose described.

v 3. The motor, stopping device therefor, and controlling-disk.operated by the said motor, and .proi'ided with a series of stop-polo ts, com

bined' with the circuit-controller and actuat: ing-cam therefor, operated by the motor as described relatively to the controlling-disk, whereby the said circuit-controller is operated by its cam only when the controlling-disk isin position toengagethe stopping device at a definite one of its stop-points, substantially as described. p

4. A series of signaling-instruments, each consisting of a clock-work or mechanical m0- tor, the stop mechanism therefor, and its conp the said motor, the said signal-magnet being 'properly'constrncted to operate by currents 0;

a character that do not operate the controllingm'a'gnet, substantially as and for the purpose described. 1 V

In testimonywhereot 1 have signed myname to this specification in the presence of two-subscribing witiiesses.

A v GEORGE H. BLISS Witnesses;

J omv F. VAN DEUSEN- GEO.. F. PERHAM.

trolling-magnet, constructed oradjusted to beoperated only by currents; of a definite char-,

eat stations, combined with the controlling- 

